I’m the road at 5am and still navigating traffic in Istanbul – I’m shocked it’s this heavy this early. Even with my GPS helping me out of town, I find the highways’ fairly complex with multiple changes switching to multiple different roadways. With only a bit of backtracking, it still takes about 4 hrs to get completely out of the city/cities. I head northeast toward Sinop trying to stick to back roads and small towns. I get exactly what I’m looking for as I wind and weave my way north.
The route takes bit longer than expected, so I start to look for a place to camp around 6pm. I head up into the mountains and decide to test my luck on a cattle track leading up into the woods. I find a small grassy clearing and set up camp for the first time of the trip. I guess I’m still working on the bugs, because I find my camp stove doesn’t match my fuel type – shit. I end up cooking my dinner over a small fire and cash out around 9.
I’ll sort it out tomorrow – I’m wiped out.
Chad Rothacher 